Jarvis Takes Rolex 24 Pole with Record Lap

Team Joest driver Oliver Jarvis broke the Daytona International Speedway lap record to clinch pole position for the Rolex 24.

The Englishman, driving the No. 77 Mazda RT24-P, went to the top of the timing screens early in the 15-minute prototype qualifying session before shaving his best effort down to a 1:33.685.

This was two tenths quicker than the previous record around the Daytona infield course set by P.J. Jones in 1993 behind the wheel of a GTP-class Toyota.

Jarvis will be joined on the front row of the grid for this weekend’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship opener by Ricky Taylor in the No. 7 Acura Team Penske ARX-05.

Taylor interrupted a Joest 1-2 held by Jarvis and Jonathan Bomarito, before his Penske team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya jumped up to third shortly before the checkered flag.

Montoya, who was qualifying the Acura DPi for the first time, recovered from an early lock-up that ruined one of his opening flyers to put the Penske squad in second and third.

Bomarito’s time of 1:34.212 held out as the fourth-best, while Felipe Nasr steered the highest-placed Cadillac DPi-V.R to fifth on the grid.

Reigning IMSA champion Nasr was followed by a gaggle of four more Cadillacs, with Jordan Taylor going sixth in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing car, ahead of Juncos Racing’s Agustin Canapino.

They finished ahead of the JDC-Miller Motorsports Caddies driven by Tristan Vautier and Stephen Simpson, while Jon Bennett propped up the field in the CORE autosport Nissan DPi.

In LMP2, James Allen took pole in the No. 81 DragonSpeed Oreca 07 Gibson, recording a time half a second quicker than PR1/Mathiasen’s Gabriel Aubry.

RESULTS: Qualifying